First Edition: Paid work placements in the book industry

Remote placement
Late January/February 2025
1 day a week for 5 weeks

The placement will be a remote position reporting to the Rights Director in the run up to London Book Fair. You will gain insight into the international side of the publishing business and into the organization of a major event in the publishing calendar. You will have the opportunity to meet with other department heads to give you a broad overview publishing different functions.

The placement will take place between late January through February. The ideal working pattern would be one day a week for 5 weeks. There is some flexibility on the specific day.

Remote placement (with in-person visit)
April-May 2025
1 day a week for 5 weeks

This placement will give you a broad view into the workings of the whole company including insight meetings with staff from all departments, a day in the London offices, and new experiences to add to your CV.
The placement will take place 1 day a week for 5 weeks with exact dates to be confirmed with the successful candidate.

Travel to visit Faber’s London offices for a day will be provided for free as part of the placement.

Remote placement
February/April 2025
1 day a week for 5 weeks

This remote placement in the publicity department at Fitzcarraldo Editions will give you insight into how an independent publisher organises publicity campaigns. You will gain experience in administrative and organisational tasks as well as research and the chance to learn how to write a pitch, make a press release and research a campaign.

The placement will take place between February and April 2025. Ideally the working pattern would be one day a week for five weeks but if one week works better for the successful applicant, there is flexibility.

Onsite placement
Central Newcastle office 
Spring 2025 (flexible)
1 day a week for 5 weeks

You’ll spend a week in the Hachette Newcastle office, working with a range of staff across departments. Over the course of the week you’ll get an overview of the Hachette divisions and valuable insight into working in publishing.

At Hachette UK, our mission is to make it easy for everyone, everywhere to unlock new world of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity. To achieve this, we want to attract and retain talent that is fully reflective of the world we live in, and to become the publisher and employer of choice for everyone.

Remote placement (with in-person visit)
March 2025
Flexible working pattern

Depending on your preference, you’ll either spend one day a week for five weeks or one full week with us here at HarperNorth. You’ll meet the team and have a chance to come and visit us at our offices in City Centre Manchester. You’ll get an overview of how we work at HarperCollins and gain knowledge of what we do here in publishing.

Travel to visit HarperNorth’s Manchester office will be provided for free as part of the placement.

Onsite placement
Central Newcastle office
March/April 2025
1 day a week for 5 weeks 

We’re seeking an Inpress social media content creator to assist in our busy Inpress marketing team. As part of your experience, you’ll be learning how to run consumer and B2B digital marketing campaigns for individual books and for genre promotions. It’s a great opportunity to gain an insight into the world of independent publishing from a sales and marketing perspective and learn about what booksellers are looking for when picking titles to promote. You will assist with creating content, scheduling campaigns and working on SEO.

We’re seeking someone with a positive can-do attitude and tonnes of creativity. This position would suit someone with an interest in independently produced literary fiction, non-fiction or poetry, and a general interest in a career in publishing sales and marketing.

Onsite placement
Central Newcastle office
February 2025
1 week (Monday-Friday)

The Poetry Book Society (PBS) was founded by TS Eliot in 1953 to share the joy of poetry. We’re a unique poetry book club dedicated to promoting a diverse range of poets and publishers. We’re looking for someone with a positive can-do attitude and a love of poetry to join our office team in central Newcastle for 5 days in February (exact dates to be confirmed with candidate).

As our PBS intern, you’ll gain a rare insight into the poetry publishing sector, as well as learning more widely about book marketing, content creation, bookselling, events programming, and the editorial and production processes involved in printing our quarterly poetry magazine. Alongside shadowing key team members, you’ll gain hands-on experience assisting with blog writing and print reviews and helping to devise social media campaigns to reach new readers, for example Gen Z poetry fans on Tiktok. It’s the perfect placement for contemporary poetry fans and all those with an interest in sharing the joy of poetry through innovative marketing campaigns.

Remote placement
Spring 2025 (flexible)
1 day a week for 5 weeks 

The placement will involve working as part of our very small team, offering an overview of all sides of the editorial and publication process, from acquiring new titles, to copyediting, preparing marketing copy and sales materials, planning and managing our social media, organising events, publicising new titles, despatching books, and other crucial administrative tasks behind the scenes.

This placement will be delivered remotely, one day a week for five weeks. Prototype have flexibility about when this placement could be done, between February and June 2025. They can also be flexible with the day of the week that you work. You are welcome to conduct the placement from home, or New Writing North can provide you with space in our central Newcastle office.

Remote placement (in-person opportunities)
Late January/February 2025
1 day a week for 5 weeks 

This placement will give you the chance to see what goes into running a small publishing press. You’ll get a sense of editing and marketing, as well as printing and distribution. The placement will begin in late January and run throughout February. During this time, you’ll assist with preparing two poetry pamphlets for publication and with the opening of their magazine’s next submissions window. You’ll also help in the lead up to a launch event in February. The placement will be largely remote, although there will be opportunities to interact with The Braag in-person, like at the launch event.

You are welcome to conduct the placement from home, or New Writing North can provide you with space in our central Newcastle office.

Remote placement (with in-person visit)
17-21 February 2025
1 week (Monday-Friday)

You’ll spend a week working with a range of staff across the book department at Curtis Brown and C&W, gaining insight into different roles and processes across two leading literary agencies within the Curtis Brown Group. You will gain valuable skills for your CV, such as reading and research. The placement will be remote, with the opportunity to visit the Curtis Brown offices for a day.

Curtis Brown Group are keen to be flexible, so if the dates do not work for you, you may still apply if you have availability between mid-January and early March. Travel to visit Curtis Brown’s London office for a day will be provided for free as part of the placement.

Remote placement (with in-person visit)
January/February 2025
1 day a week for 5 weeks

An introduction to the secret(ish) world of literary scouting – this is an exciting opportunity for someone passionate about books, loves talking about and engaging with stories across all genres, and wants to learn about the international publishing industry.

You’ll be reading and reporting on the latest submissions for our daily and weekly reports, sitting in on client zoom meetings, and assisting the team with various administrative tasks as we prepare for the London Book Fair.

Onsite placement
1b Books, Heaton, Newcastle
February/March 2025
1 week (Monday-Friday)

This is a week-long placement at 1b Books. You’ll get the chance to see how an indie bookshop works behind the scenes and have the opportunity to get involved in delivering their vibrant events programme. You may also have the opportunity to assist with the upcoming edition of The Crack magazine, which is based in the offices above the shop. This placement has flexibility to be tailored to your interests, so you may spend more time in the bookshop or on tasks relating to The Crack. Please let us know your interests in your application.

1b Heaton sell a range of fiction and non-fiction titles, with a focus on queer books and translated fiction. They particularly welcome applications from the LGBTQ+ community.

Onsite placement
Central Newcastle office
5 days across January-March 2025

You’ll see behind the scenes of one of the UK’s major literary prizes. From the shortlist announcement to the ceremony itself, you’ll work with our marketing team to support announcements and create content for social media.

This placement is designed to be flexible around you and around the key points of the Gordon Burn Prize. The prize ceremony will take place on 6 March 2025.

Onsite placement
Central Newcastle office
March/April 2025
1 day a week for 5 weeks

Discover what life is like in a creative agency.  On this placement, learn how organisations create their unique brands and tell their stories to the world. From storyboarding videos to writing press releases, you’ll have the opportunity write for different media types. Find out how strategic and creative thinking go hand in hand to deliver exciting campaigns, target specific audiences and achieve important goals.

This placement has flexibility to be tailored to your individual skills and interests. It will be delivered onsite, one day a week for five weeks in March and April 2025, most likely on a Wednesday or Thursday.